Dating Service Consumer Bill of Rights

Required by New York General Business Law § 394-c for every purchase and renewal of a paid plan by a New York member. The notes under each item explain how it applies to The Counsel.

1. No social referral service contract shall require the payment by you, the purchaser, of an amount greater than one thousand dollars. In addition, no such contract may extend over a period of time greater than two years. Our plans cost $4.99 to $9.99 a month or $49.99 to $99.99 a year, and each period lasts one month or one year.
2. No social referral service contract shall require you, the purchaser, to purchase a good or service which is directly or indirectly related to the social referral service. These extra services are known as ancillary services and, while these ancillary services may be offered to you, the law prohibits the seller from requiring that you purchase this service as a condition of your social referral service contract. We don't require you to buy anything else.
3. If your social referral service contract costs more than twenty-five dollars, the seller must furnish a minimum number of referrals per month to you, unless your social referral service provides the user with a search functionality or is presented with possible matches. If this minimum amount is not furnished to you for two successive months, or in the case of an online dating service with search functionality or algorithm or location based matching, any social referral, you have the option of cancelling the contract and receiving a full refund of all the money you paid, less a cancellation fee which cannot exceed either fifteen percent of the cash price or a pro rata amount for the number of referrals furnished to you. The Counsel lets you browse profiles and shows you possible matches, so there's no monthly minimum. If you get no matches or possible matches at all for two or more months in a row, you can cancel and get a refund of what you paid, less a cancellation fee of 15% of the price. Ask in the app (Settings → Plans → Your membership) or email thecounseldating@gmail.com.
4. Unless your social referral service contract is for online dating services that are generally available to users on a regional, national or global basis, your social referral service contract must specify the distance which you, the purchaser, are willing to travel to meet any social referral. No social referrals shall be furnished where you and the referral live at a distance greater than the distance specified in the contract. The Counsel is available across the United States, so no travel distance is set in your contract. You choose your own distance filter in the app.
5. The provider must have an established policy to address the situation of your moving outside the area it services. This policy must be explained in your contract. If you move permanently to a place where we don't offer the Service, you're entitled to a refund of the part of any payment that covers the period after your move (Terms of Service, Section 12).
6. If any provision of the social referral service contract is violated, you have the right to bring a court action against the provider which has violated the contract. Our Terms of Service (Section 17) ask you to resolve most disputes by individual arbitration unless you opt out within 30 days, and you can always use small-claims court.

Your other rights as a New York member

• Hold: you may put your paid membership on hold for up to one year, in the app (Settings → Plans → Your membership) or by writing to thecounseldating@gmail.com. While on hold your profile is hidden and your paid time stops; the time you had left is given back when the hold ends. We may agree to a longer hold, up to two years in total.
• Your information: we won't sell, assign or transfer the personal information you give us to anyone else without your consent, except as our Privacy Policy describes. When your membership ends and your account is deleted, we delete that information as the Privacy Policy describes and confirm the deletion to you in writing.
• Fraud bans: if we ban someone who messaged you because we believe they may be using a false identity or trying to get money by fraud, we'll tell you.